Pool table



United States [72] Inventor Joseph Bali 11, 889 James Morrice St., Montreal, Quebec, Canada [21] Appl. No, 685,834

[22] Filed Nov. 27, 1967 [45] Patented Dec. 1, 1970 [54] POOL TABLE 1 Claim, No Drawings [52] 11.5. CI 273/8, 273/3, 273/123 [51] Int. Cl A63d 15/00 [50] Field ot'Search 273/3, 8, 9, 3.2, 14, 123; 34/3 [56] 7 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 33,713 12/1900 Pryibil 273/3X 208,539 10/1878 Reesch 273/3 241,473 5/1881 Boyd 273/3 7 835,177 11/1906 Callahan 273/3 FOREIGN PATENTS 3,485 10/1906 Great Britain 273/3 23,245 10/1908 Great Britain. 273/3 769,402 8/1934 France 273/123 Primary Examiner Richard C. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-Thomas Zack Atmmey-Pierre Lesperance ABSTRACT: A pool table in which the rails extend inwardly towards the center of the table from two opposite sides of the I playing surface of the table, so as to form wedgelike projections, each defined by mutually inclined rail portions meeting at an apex, and a pocket located at each apex to thereby render the game more difficult to play.

Patented Dec. '1, 197 0 INVENTOR Joseph BALI Aaefi POOL TABLE This invention relates to pool tables and is particularly concerned with new developments in the playing surface of such tables.

Pool tables having a rectangular playing surface with pockets at the corners and half-way along the sides are well known. In these tables it is only possible to hook" the opponent by placing the cue ball" so that there is another ball between it and the ball it has to hit.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a pool table with a playing surface in which there are rail portions projecting from opposite sides of the surface, so as to form gulfs on either side in which the cue ball may be placed, so as to make the game more difficult for the opponent.

A further object of the invention is to provide a playing surface having rails of complex configuration, thereby increasing the possible "banking" combinations. A further object of the invention is to dispose pockets at the ends of the rail projections, which makes it more difficult to pocket a ball.

Another object of the invention is to so arrange the location of the pockets and the table configuration that some of the pockets are inaccessible from a greater area of the playing surface than in conventional pool tables, so as to make the game more difficult to play.

A further object of the invention is to provide bounce posts in front of the pockets located at the apices of the rail projections to render the game still more difficult to play.

In general it has been found that a game played on a table according to the invention presents greatly increased interest as compared to the conventional rectangular tables.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 to 4 are plan views of pool tables according to four different embodiments of the invention;

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, the pool table comprises in each instance a playing surface 10 surrounded by rails 11. The

playing surface 10 includes, as shown, two identical surface sections symmetrically disposed on either side of a straight junction line, the rails 11 defining two equal wedgelike projections 12 extending from opposite sides of surface 10 towards but terminating short of each other, each projection having an apex on said junction line and two rail portions 11' equally inclined relative to the junction line on either side thereof. Thus, gulfs 14 are formed on either side of the junction line.

The two sections of the playing surface 10 may take on a variety of shapes some of which are shown by way of example, others being of course possible. The sections are octagonal in FIG. 1 with the octagons having a side in common on said junction line.

In FIG. 2 the sections are ellipses intersecting at the junction line and with their major axes parallel, to each other and to the junction line, while in FIG. 3 they are circles intersecting at thejunction line.

In FIG. 4 the sections are intersecting circular portions cut off at opposite ends of the table by straight portions parallel to the junction line.

Two pockets 15 are provided in all the embodiments shown, on the junction line at the ends or apices of the wedgelike projections l2 and bounce posts 16 with rubber rings 17 around them are secured to the table on the junction line in front of the pockets 15. Other pockets 18, preferably two per section, are symmetrically disposed therein being located at the four corners of a rectangle and symmetrically disposed with respect to the junction line. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, the straight portions join pockets 18. Two pockets l5 and 18 are normally closed at their bottom but will be open if the billiard table is provided with a coin controlled ball return system.

Iclaim:

I. A pool table playing surface comprising: a flat playing surface consisting of two identical joined playing areas with a rail and ball cushion completely surrounding each playing area, except where itjoins the other playing area; the junction of said playing areas comprising two inwardly directed wedgeshaped rails projecting towards each other with an empty space therebetween on said playing surface; a ball receiving pocket located near and in front ofeach of said wedge-shaped rails on a line between said wedge-shaped rails; and a ball bumper post attached to said playing surface near each of said pockets so as to make entry of a ball therein more difficult. 

